Like sales of existing homes, new home sales rose in March, but by a much larger percentage. Existing home sales edged up three-tenths of a percentage point to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 6.92 million units. Sales of new homes, however, increased 13.8% last month to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.213 million, the U.S. Commerce Department and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development jointly reported on April 26.

Like sales of existing homes, new home sales last month were below the rate of March 2005, confirming that the U.S. housing market is coming in for a soft landing from last year's heights.